Amanda Rudolph Schwartz is a native valley girl who still uses way too many “likes” when she speaks. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Amanda, of course, grew up engaging in celebrity dish, watercooler TV talk and Monday morning movie quarterbacking. Her propensity for all things pop culture earned her the unfortunate nickname “Hollywood” in college. Speaking of which…Amanda has lived elsewhere. She attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (Go Blue!) and survived six years in San Francisco where her one and only celebrity sighting came when former “Bachelor,” Andrew Firestone, signed bottles of wine in the frozen food section of the Marina Safeway.

Now back in SoCal, Amanda resides in the suburb of Calabasas where she literally has to “Keep up With the Kardashians” who have smeared the good name of the town. A writer since her mind could wander, Amanda spent her twenties working in journalism and television. She has written for TV via the Disney Channel, MTV and the WB. She has also written for several publications including Los Angeles Magazine, InStyle, The New York Daily News, Variety and almost every teeny-bopper magazine in existence (someday she might even release her early Katie Holmes audio recordings!). She also served as an editor on the launch team of E! Online and as their first TV columnist. A few years back, she sold a screenplay to Britney Spears which hasn’t yet materialized into a film but has given life to some damn good stories. A bit more grown up now, Amanda is a wife and mom (Gabriel, 5; Zoey, 2) who sadly watches CNN and Fox News over the CW and counts Chris Cuomo and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach as her current heartthrobs (Dawson who?). She also blogs at her very own www.adviceyoudidnotaskfor.blogspot.com.

Amy Anderson is a first time, single-mother to a toddler daughter, who she's pretty sure is a genius. Amy is not biased at all. Born in South Korea then adopted and raised by nice Swedish people in suburban Minnesota, Amy decided to become a comedian. After wasting several thousands of dollars of her parents' money on a degree in classical music, Amy relocated to Los Angeles in 2001 to pursue comedy and acting and so far, so good. No one has starved to death... yet.

In addition to being a mom to her superfun girl and comedy and acting, Amy loves snowboarding, hiking, rollercoasters, her chihuahua, baking and eating what she bakes. She has never refused a cupcake and isn't about to start any time soon. As an Asian American, Amy knows that low-carb diets are a SHAM. You can follow Amy's personal blog at http://FunnyYellowMom.Blogpost.com and see her stand up and Academy Award caliber acting on her several national television appearances or online at her personal website (www.AmyAnderson.net), MySpace and Facebook profiles.

Amy Swift is the founder of SMARTY, a Los Angeles and Orange County based community and resource for entrepreneurial and freelancing women. SMARTY delivers events and workshops dedicated to launching or growing A. An idea that could be a business or B. An existing business who's owner needs continued education and support toward growth and expansion. Amy was the founding editor in chief of Ladies Who Launch, co-wrote the Incubator program and co-author of Ladies Who Launch: Creativity and Entrepreneurship as a Lifestyle (St. Martin's 2006.)

.

Ana Lilian Flores is truly a child of two worlds. Born in Houston to parents from El Salvador; grew up in El Salvador until she headed back to the U.S. to attend the University of Florida and receive a Bachelor in Telecommunications-Production. Since then she has worked as television and entertainment producer both in the U.S. and in Mexico.

She and her husband moved to Los Angeles four years ago when the TV industry came calling back. They thought they had escaped it all when they moved to Playa del Carmen in México to act as irresponsible beach bums, but the offer was too tempting to pass up. Two years ago they joyously welcomed their daughter Camila into their bilingual and bicultural family. These days, Ana Lilian is working freelance gigs whenever they come around, and discovering her unselfish side by dedicating precious available time to her labor-of-love blog for parents raising bilingual and bicultural children: SpanglishBaby .

April McCaffery was born behind the Orange curtain in Huntington Beach, CA. Since then, her journeys have taken her to Santa Cruz, Los Angeles where she attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a vocal music major, living and working on a cruise ship, Denver, San Jose, Pittsburgh, Rochester, NY, East L.A., and now Burbank. She is a single, working mother of two daughters.April is the LA Single Parenting Examiner, writes her personal blog, It's All About Balance, and works as a paralegal.

Bernadette Balagtas Batts was raised in the Philippines. Her parents struggled to bring her and her three sisters to America in hopes of providing a better life. She attended nursing school but realized her passion was in entertainment. So, like any normal college student, she quit without telling her parents. They eventually figured it out when they saw Bernadette in a national MCI commercial during The Price is Right. She promised them that if she wasn't going to BE a nurse she would at least PLAY one on TV.

In addition to acting, Bernadette is also a national touring stand-up comedian. She broke her golden rule of "never get involved with a comedian" by marrying one. She and her husband, Michael Batts, are proud parents to their adorable baby, Isabella, who is already stealing the spotlight.

Bernadette LOVES watching the cooking channel, grocery shopping and indulging on an occasional donut. She basically enjoys anything involving food. Bernadette also has her own personal blogging site at
bern-baby-bern and you can check out her show listings at
bernadettelive.com and her profile on Facebook.

Ciaran is a designer/writer living in the LA area, but a piece of her heart remains back east in NYC. Probably sipping an Americano on the lower east side. She is the loving/ranting mom to 4 wonderful/rotten kids. Some of which like to ask her random questions about stuff like sex while she is driving on the freeway, so you may not want to follow too close. Ciaran is a clothing designer, an avid shopper, a self professed "stuffanista" and a constant blogger. She writes product reviews for Mommies with Style, co-owns and edits the family-on-the-go site Car and Caboodle and is looking forward to doling out prescriptions for retail therapy at Popshopology, her latest venture.

While her life may resemble an over the top reality show at times, the cameras are all in the kid's heads and the laugh track is real, never pre-recorded. Keep up with Ciaran's daily adventures on Twitter by following "Momfluential".

over the course of the past year, Cynematic became a political blogger at MOMocrats in addition to her usual writer-filmmaker self. (She's been blogging since 2003 at P i l l o w b o o k, but only went public there in the summer of 2007.) She finds all this hyphenation astonishing, but what's no surprise at all is that she could no more stop writing than stop breathing.

Some days it feels like exactly what she was meant to do, with writing as the link between her past life as a literature professor/grad student and current indie filmmaker endeavors. Other days, her creative life seems like a ridiculously quixotic uphill jumble that happens, sometimes in tweets, in between providing three square meals a day and two nutritious snacks, pickup/dropoff, story time, and bath time as part of raising her brilliant, adorable, fun, and soulful 5-year old.

Welcome to motherhood and multi-tasking, right?

She firmly believes productivity rises when standards fall. Heh. Luckily, she has no domestic gifts whatsoever, is totally un-house proud, and is something of a night owl, or nothing would ever happen.

She just moved to South Pasadena (for the schools! of course!) after seven happy years in Los Feliz--where there's a Prius in every driveway and an organic, free-range chicken in every pot. In South Pas, you can find her at the old-fashioned ice cream shoppe or maybe protesting something on the corner across the street..

.

Donna Schwartz Mills has been a rock journalist, a television production assistant, a freelance sitcom writer, a meeting and convention planner, and a mom who blogs. If she had been born a cat, she’d now be halfway through her nine lives, which she figures is just about right. Donna lives with her husband, middle school daughter, two cats and a goldfish in Southern California, a locale that provides her with plenty of fodder for her main blog,SoCalMom. She also writes reviews at SoCal Stuff, and contributes to the political blog, Momocrats . She is an emeritus member of the Writers Guild of America.

.

Elise Crane Derby’sfamily has lived in and around Santa Monica for almost a hundred years(Which in LA terms is like coming over on the Mayflower). She spent her formative years in Santa Monica public schools. She followed high school up with a few years drifting between Europe, where she learned to speak French and sing with a rock band, and stateside nanny jobs. Finally, she settled back on the Westside where she worked as a preschool teacher for five years, then a personal assistant, for what felt like a hundred years, but turned out to only be three, and in the end became a massage therapist.

Elise is happily married (most days) to another Santa Monica local she calls Viejo for blog purposes and they have a four year old daughter who they usually refer to as Monkey both in real life and on the blog. They all live in a little house on the Westside with their giant dog George, who Monkey will tell you is a Saint Bernard mix. Elise also invites you to visit her blog Elise’s Ramblings.

Elizabeth Aquino is a writer and mother living in Los Angeles with her three children. Her oldest child, a daughter, has a severe seizure disorder and developmental disabilities. Sophie's life has given Elizabeth's an added purpose as she is a fierce advocate for children with special needs. She is currently on the board of the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Los Angeles and works part time for the National Initiative to Improve Children's Healthcare Quality. She is also on the editorial board of a parent journal at epilepsy.com. Elizabeth's sons also keep her busy with what appears to be an insatiable desire to play every sport imaginable. Her work has been published in several literary journals, the anthologies A Cup of Comfort for Parents of Special Needs Children and My Baby Rides the Short Bus, as well as The Los Angeles Times and Spirituality and Health Magazine. Elizabeth posts regularly at her blog, a moon, worn as if it had been a shell and is currently working on a memoir about raising a child with a severe disability.

.

Elizabeth Peterson grew up in Massachusetts dreaming about living in a warm climate. She toured the US with a rock band, shooting their documentary and writing an article about their obsessed fans. At the end of the tour she found herself on The Sunset Strip and knew she was home. Having worked in Hollywood both in front of and behind the camera, Elizabeth has slowed down a tiny bit to raise her back-to-back-19-months-apart babies. She has perfected her quick draw on the “mute” button while on conference calls with a baby in her lap. Married to a Los Angeles native Surfer Guy and living at the beach, she works hard at being laid back, with limited success.

Elizabeth has lived all over the world and speaks four languages. She loves a good happy hour, mint chocolate chip ice cream and personal finance. Her therapist thinks she secretly uses blogging as a way to rebel against her father who believes you should be in the newspaper three times in your life: upon birth, marriage and death. You can read her personal blog over at Traded My BMW for a Minivan. She thanks you for taking the time.

.

Erinis a 4th generation Angeleno who alternately loves her city and is confused by it (a public rail line that both relieves traffic AND kills people occasionally? beautiful faces AND Botox Betties?). Her father worked for the government and she moved. A lot. To far-off lands like Bermuda. Italy. Alabama. When she came to her senses, she moved back to LA and has never looked back. Except for the occasional sojourn to Europe or Palm Springs, whichever can be afforded when wanderlust strikes.

While living the dream as a junior ad exec in Hollywood, Erin became deeply besotted by her husband, who lured her to the foreign streets of his hometown in the San Fernando Valley. There, she plays Suburban Housewife to their three impossibly adorable girls under the age of 9, who are their mama's greatest joy and the reason she drinks on school nights.

No longer dabbling in the world of freelance marketing, PR or advertising, Erin has sometimes been known to bake a mean pumpkin pie and hover (or is it called "volunteering"?) at her kids' schools (and she writes about it for the education blog of the LA Times www.latimes.com/thehomeroom). She spends Wednesday nights in a tiny room off the sanctuary of a church with other writers who want to exercise their craft and escape their families for two quiet hours. Hobbies include yoga, hours-long visits to Tar-zhay, Boggle, Justin Timberlake and spontaneous champagne-induced handstands.

Eunice C. was born in Korea, grew up in Chicago, worked in New York, and is now raising two toddler boys in Southern California. Formerly an investment banker and corporate attorney, she considers the hardships of those jobs nothing compared to those faced as a full time SAHM. She dreams about the day she can sleep eight hours straight without anyone waking her up.

Eunice likes going on Strand walks and frequenting Korean taco trucks and farmers markets, some of her favorite things about LA. She writes about the madness surrounding her at her personal blog, Random Walk Down Mommy Street.

.

Florinda Pendley Vasquez has been a mom and wife twice, for a total of more than half her life. Round One started in Florida, while she and her first husband were still college students, and had their only child at the age of 20. They both finished college, she and their son accompanied her husband to graduate school, and they later settled in Memphis, Tennessee. Obviously, Florinda is no longer in Memphis, or she would not be qualified to blog here; after her first marriage ended in 2002, and with her son about to leave for college himself, she followed the example of countless others and headed to Southern California for a fresh start. After a few years of single life and long-distance parenting, she met her future second husband via an online dating site. Round Two officially commenced in October 2006, when they married and she became stepmother to his teen daughter and grade-school-age son.

Florinda's accounting career (yes, really, for over twenty years now) has currently brought her to the edge of Hollywood, where she works for a nonprofit social-services agency - it has its moments, but it's not quite as interesting as when she literally worked in a zoo. While she works with numbers, she's addicted to words. She's a voracious reader, and her love of books got her into blogging, but her personal blog, The 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness, has spun off in many directions from its original bookish roots. She lives the suburban commuter life in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, with Husband #2, the kids (none of whom are there full-time) and their dog Gypsy (who is always there, usually on the bed).

.

Having a child later in life and being a single mom was what put Jeannine on a new path. She craved a career where she could continue using her creative talents and expertise and that would have flexibility to be with her son and spend more time with him as he grew. Together with Tricia Leigh Fisher, The Treehouse Social Club was built and filled a void in children’s play places by focusing on the mom’s (and dads) as well as the children’s needs. Treehouse Social Club in Los Angeles, CA, is a full-time play center, café and community for moms and kids. The Treehouse celebrated its Grand Opening on Mother’s Day, May 13, 2007 and continues to thrive and grow.

Prior to the launch of The Treehouse, Jeannine was employed as an award winning creative director with a background in graphic design for over 20 years in both New York and Los Angeles, working for industry leaders such as TWBA/Chiat Day; Schematic; HBO; Lifetime Television and Grey Entertainment.

Social events and creative endeavors were all a major part of Jeannine’s life when she was employed in the corporate world and she was also the expert within her group of family and friends. These talents are now utilized full-time at The Treehouse Social Club. She is using her creative talents, marketing expertise, entertainment industry knowledge and mommy experience and enjoying it all as is her son Cole.

6 year old Cole’s favorite things to do at The Treehouse are to go climb into the actual treehouse, play the Wii game and test as many toys as possible. He is Jeannine’s greatest inspiration personally and professionally.

.

Jennifer blogs as TheSmartMama but doesn't ever feel smart. Mostly she feels like she is always running late (which is why she lives in Los Angeles because you can always blame the traffic), usually exhausted, often cranky and perpetually losing her keys. Or her checkbook. Or one small child's shoe (never two shoes). She is the mom of 2 and caretaker to a very snooty cat and a very fat guinea pig. And assorted bugs collected by her 5 year old boy. She works outside the home as a partner in a law firm specializing in environmental law, primarily consumer product labeling. She was formerly an environmental engineer and met her husband just about 20 years ago in engineering school. Her husband, whom she truly loves dearly, has a much more interesting job - he is a human crash test dummy.

Jennifer runs an eco-consulting business focusing on simple steps to reduce and eliminate toxic chemicals around the home and going green. She routinely lectures on the subject. She is the author of the forthcoming The Smart Mama's Green Guide: Simple Steps to Non Toxic Babies from Hachette Book Group USA. She runs the website TheSmartMama. She blogs at 5 Minutes for Going Green and SmugDadCrankyMom.

..

Jessica B. is the creator/producer of a web series called "BERNTHIS.COM" about a neurotic woman's journey through her weekly visits to her therapist's office, which was noted in the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Larchmont Chronicle for her ability to use product placement to offset her production costs. Megan Smith, a contributing editor at http://blogher.com reviewed the series saying, " Unlike some of the "rough around the edges" video blogs out there, this one is well written, beautifully produced and most of the clips are quite funny. Definitely worth checking out."

Jessica is also one of the founders of http:www.themouthyhousewives.com, a funny, quirky, somewhat twisted advice site written by herself and four other humor bloggers who use their non-traditional takes on housework, relationships and parenting to give hilarious and helpful answers to life’s questions.

Jessica has been a commercial actress for many years. She has been the spokesperson for companies such as Wendy's, Amana and ACS Wireless. With over three dozen commercials under her belt, there's not a product in the world she doesn't "really" believe in.

Jessica is a former stand-up comedienne and has appeared on networks such as Comedy Central, FOX, NBC, MTV and VH-1. Her essay, "Flying the Unfriendly Skies" was published in a book entitled, "The Story Salon, Big Book of Stories", (iuniverse.,publisher) and was also the winner of the "letter to my body" contest, which sponsored by Contessa.com.

Kimberley
Clayton Blaine, MA, MFT is an author, national parenting expert and a
licensed Family and Child Therapist who specializes in working with
children ages newborn to six years old. Kimberley is the executive
producer of the web show titled, www.TheGoToMom.TV. Kimberley is
also the executive producer of Silicon Valley Moms Group's original
series A Byte Out Of
Life sponsored by Yahoo! -- She teaches Early Childhood Brain
Development and Positive Discipline Strategies at UCLA Extension
Education Department. Currently, Kimberley is the director of a Los
Angeles Mental Health Campaign for Young Children funded by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. Read her latest book, The
Internet Mommy: Inspiring Interviews and Stories from Mothers who Work
and Play Online -- www.TheInternetM

Kim Tracy Prince
relocated to Los Angeles from her hometown in Connecticut with no idea
what to do when she grew up. After 12 years of writing and producing
for television, eight years of marriage, and five years of raising
little boys, she still doesn't know. Kim had given up on Los Angeles
because of the traffic, but having kids gave her permission to play
again. She enjoys naptime, blogging, reading, travel, and a nice
cocktail, but her most fulfilling extra-curricular activity is working
with Help a Mother Out to assist needy families
in getting clean diapers for their babies. Read more of everything at House of
Prince, tips and travel stories on Uptake Family
Vacations, real estate adventures at Diary of a Moving Mom, and
stream-of-conscious blah blah on Twitter.

Laura Clark arrived in Los Angeles in 2002 via New York, Hamburg, Amherst and her native Oklahoma. She has spent most of her career in journalism, having worked on the editorial staff of such publications as George magazine, Woman's Day, the New York Times Syndicate and Variety.

Being a media junkie, however, isn't half as entertaining as playing handler for her 2-year-old daughter. Laura chronicles her Los Angeles adventures with husband and toddler in tow on her blog L.A. Story. It's there where she muses, gushes and sometimes even vents as they explore hot spots around the city that are both kid-friendly and reasonably priced. OK, sometimes they splurge. After all, it is L.A.

Laura Gerson is mom to one delightful toddler (and two rambunctious pugs.) She spends her days creating outings and events for her daughter and finding ways to keep all three "kids" from creating more messes than the ones she just cleaned up. The job of full-time mom was an eye-opening and exhausting transition for this former marketing executive who thought producing 16 events a year, negotiating major sponsorship deals, brokering new business opportunities, launching a magazine, managing 100+ artists at one time or working a 60 hour week was tough work. Laura notes that while all of her career accomplishments have been wonderful experiences, motherhood has by far been the most challenging and most rewarding.

Laura is an Army brat, the eldest of three, who's parents schlepped her all over the world. The most memorable experiences being a few years in pre-Kohmeini Tehran and high-school years skiing and drinking beer (there's no age limit) in Germany.She has a degree in Art History from the University of Georgia and began her career working in art galleries in Atlanta. Somehow talked her way into a job in PR, became an events specialist, ended-up in marketing and the rest, as they say... Her latest marketing endeavor is her blog http://bestmomsites.blogspot.com/ where she "finds the best sites and online sales for moms." Laura is married to a technology entrepreneur and creative genius (she is not biased in this) who keeps her on her toes and is a delight to watch interact with their baby girl. Laura and family are currently residing in Los Angeles, so close to the ocean "we can see the sea mist roll over our rooftop".

.

Lexi has a busy life with one and a half year old triplets & and an almost teenage stepson. Everyone has told her it doesn’t get easier, it just gets different. The good news is, everyone sleeps well. After a lengthy hotel management career and ten years coaching figure skating, she can now be found with a baby on one knee while she rediscovers daily her ability to type with one hand and desperately wishes for ear plugs on days that end in "Y". Squeezing in time to write and stay involved in skating between bottles, diapers and homework is a challenge. Outnumbered by children, it's all about zone defense. The baby weight is coming off slowly but surely as she finds her way back to balance on 1/8 of an inch of steel under each foot. That is, when there aren't three sticky little people there.

.

Liz D . is a married mother of two who’s lived in Chicago, New York and Guangzhou, China, but has called the paparazzi capital of the world, Los Angeles, home for the past ten years. Liz can see the Hollywood sign from her backyard, proof that it’s not smoggy in LA all the time, but she’s never seen her two favorite actors, Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom. Despite those fantasies not coming true, the celebrity life is never far away for Liz when she’s with her young sons. However, she hopes to not ever repeat the major freak-out moment where she caught random strangers snapping pictures of her two young boys with camera phones, not to mention the shady folks who lurk in the mall and try to recruit them for supposed Disney casting calls, for a small fee of course.

Liz also gets plenty of requests from her über-Angeleno sons for tattoos, mohawks and guyliner, so she makes sure to balance the wanna-be hipster/rock star tendencies by spending lots of time talking about virtues and gentlemanly behavior. A vegetarian since 1990, Liz is trying to figure out how to cook for kids that don’t mind eating tofu but really just want to be like their dad and scarf down turkey burgers and chicken every chance they get. Liz happily suffers from acute Depeche Mode obsessive compulsive disorder and takes pride in the fact that her sons can tell the difference between a Cure or Depeche Mode record. Because she loves grinding her teeth and supporting public education, for now she’s skipping the private, magnet or charter school debate and is sending her kids to her neighborhood Los Angeles public school. She worked in the field of education for thirteen years, both in the non-profit world and as a teacher in Compton, CA but gave it up for freelance writing and full-time parenting. Currently Liz writes for the sites Anti-Racist Parent and Divine Caroline and blogs about issues as diverse as race relations and pop culture at her personal alter ego, Los Angelista.

Marsha Takeda-Morrisonis a freelance writer who blogs under the name Sweatpantsmom. Before becoming a writer she worked as an art director in the entertainment industry for such companies as NBC, E! Entertainment, HBO and Sony Music. Until three years ago she had never written a thing except for the occasional witty email or that five-page hostile missive to the cable company when her Cinemax was blocked. She fantasizes that they have the letter framed and hanging in the lobby where it might catch the attention of an editor from Vanity Fair someday.
Now you can find her exposing her insides on her personal blog Sweatpantsmom, offering up mostly useless opinions on Views From The Pants and mercilessly skewering celebrities on FameCrawler. She also posts weekly on the travel site UpTake, where she’ll give you the L.A. scoop on where to find the tastiest margaritas or the best place to bump into George Clooney. (Hint: Neither of them are at her house.) She recently interviewed Jessica Alba for Genlux magazine but surprisingly was not invited to be present in the delivery room when the actress gave birth. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two tween daughters and a cat named Milkshake and considers coffee the most important substance in the history of man.

She spent 15+ years in the corporate world, marketing toys, food,
school supplies and a host of other products to children and their
parents. And then she became one – a parent that is.

And then after years and years of marketing to children, she
completed degree work in child development; qualified as a teacher;
worked in her son’s classroom; took a variety of parenting workshops and
went green (change of opinion - sort of). Not quite ready to
give up on plastic completely or ditch her TV, she none-the-less found
herself attracted to Waldorf education, attachment parenting and
excessive recycling. Now she spends her days struggling against
over-scheduling her child; eschewing then purchasing toys based on
commercial characters; cooking organic unless it’s too expensive and
driving her gas-guzzling SUV. Because who would buy it from her these
days?

A native Seattle-ite, Melissa has always been intrigued by other cultures, travel, and adventure. One month after graduating from high school, she jumped a plane for a four-year tour overseas. Upon return, she met her husband, fell in love, bought two tickets to Europe, and the day before leaving, found out they were pregnant. It has been one adventure after another ever since.

Melissa hurriedly finished college so she could enjoy staying home with her two children. Now, with both kids in school full time, her career as personal chef has taken off, as well as her passion for food blogging and gardening . She currently resides on the west side of LA, close enough to the beach to feel the ocean breeze.

The responsibilities of parenthood bind her feet to the ground for now but that doesn't stop her from taking off out of town every chance she gets.

Morgan was a
freelance writer living carefree in Los Angeles when she discovered that
she was "in the family way." What started as a new years resolution to
write daily, quickly became a journal of her pregnancy (and the panic
it induced) and her very first blog was born (which would prove a lot
less painful than when she gave birth to a real human baby not nine
months later.)

Some things that some people have found interesting
in the past?

She's a native Los Angeleno (the few, the
proud.)

She's married to her high school sweetheart. (And they both grew up
in LA. Weird, right?)

She matriculated from NYU, after being one of the only Jewish kids
at a private catholic high school in The Valley.

Since returning to Los Angeles post-college, she's worked as a
television P.A., a director's assistant, a development executive, and
writing commercials, before finally taking her place on the unemployment
line as a fully minted screenwriter.

Morgan lives, works, and loves in the San Fernando Valley, blogs daily
about art and design at Cargoh Culture, and overshares her personal life
(complete with curse words) on a semi-regular basis at The818.com.

Nina Moon is a
mother and writer living in a quiet suburb of Ventura County. Until
recently, she lived in West Los Angeles and reveled in quaint, non-chain
coffee shops, hodge-podge ethnic influenced taco trucks and not being
the only minority in the room. But since she now has cotton-tailed
bunnies and actual non-crow varieties of birds frolicking around in her
backyard, not to mention parks, hiking trails and stellar schools all
within walking distance, she is not finding it difficult to make peace
with suburban life. Nina is a founding editor of Kimchi Mamas, a blog for
mothers of Korean American children, a contributing editor to BlogHer's BeautyHacks, a
fashion and beauty blog and a former staff writer for KoreAm Journal. She blogs about
mothering, design, fashion, faith and politics at her personal blog Sweet Disarray.

.

Sarah Auerswald came to Los Angeles in 1990 to make her fortune in the film industry. She made a great living, but it didn’t quite turn out the way she thought it would. Instead of accepting an Academy Award and joining the DGA, she met the man of her dreams, bought a house and settled down to become a mom. She has 2 boys, ages 9 and 5, and her job is parenting them. She is the once and future PTA President at their school because that’s the kind of mom she is. Although Sarah was an English major in college, she delights in using run-on sentences and made-up words – and she also blogs at SarahAuerswald.com and MarVistaMom.com.

.

Sarah is a freelance
writer, comedian, single mother of three (that includes
twins...EEP!), and founder of "Mommy Lite" (www.MommyLiteOnline.com) a parenting humor site.

Her work has been featured on More.com, Shine.com,
DivineCaroline.com and TheWellMom.com. She is also a regular
contributor to ParentsAsk.com, TruuConfessions.com, and
Autisable.com (a website for families dealing with Autism - her
oldest was diagnosed with Asperger's when she was three).

She
has performed stand-up at The Hollywood Improv, The Comedy Store, and
Stand-Up New York, and has appeared as a guest on ABC News Now's
"Moms Get Real" with Ju Ju Chang, NPR's "Tell Me More" with
Michel Martin, and NPR's Podcast "What Would Rob Do?"

Sarah
is the creator and co-author of The Bridesmaid's Guerrilla Handbook
(a Border's Top 50 Best-Selling Trade Paperback), and her new
non-fiction humor book, "Got Milf?" will be published by Berkley in Spring 2011.

Sibylla Nash has written for most of her life. She graduated from USC with a degree in journalism and her articles have appeared in a variety of magazines and newspapers including Vibe, Essence, The Chicago Tribune and many others.

She is also the author Baby Modeling & Beyond: From the Stroller to the Red Carpet, a guide for parents considering getting their children into modeling and acting. Her daughter began modeling at four months old and has appeared in a number of print ads and commercials including most recently, Orville Redenbacher "tea party" commercial. You can check out her blogs StarbabyLA and Divaluscious.

Teresa Lantos DeGagné has always loved an adventure. She was raised in New York, Connecticut and Florida. Yearning for change, she went back to New York for college, spent her senior year in Ireland and worked in Manhattan after graduation. At 24, she packed all her cares away (and not much else) and moved to San Francisco, having no job and knowing only four people in the area. Five years later, she met her Southern Californian husband at a wedding there. She then began the greatest adventure of her life. After a 20-month long-distance relationship, she left the Golden Gate behind and settled into married life in Hermosa Beach. While she and her husband enjoyed their life as DINKs, they decided to throw caution to the wind, got pregnant and opted to move and raise their family in Simi Valley.

An accountant by trade (let’s face it – nothing’s more adventurous than dealing with cash flow issues), early parenthood challenged her control. As soon as she felt like she had a handle on it, they had a second child and more fun ensued. Now the mother of a third grader and a kindergartener (both boys), she’s got lots of stories to tell and questions to ponder. Tired of writing just lists of things to do, she’s decided to embark on the writing adventure she’s dreamed of since she was young. She believes she has it in her to write more than witty invitations for children’s birthday parties. Knowing she has the loving support of her husband in this and every other Lucy/Ethel project she endeavors, makes it all a little less scary.

.

Yvonne was born and raised in the beautiful desert town of Tucson (it really is a dry heat!), where most of her family still lives. After several years as a newspaper reporter, tech writer, and online editor in the Midwest and the San Francisco Bay Area, Yvonne settled in to life in Los Angeles as a housemom, writer, and baker.

She recently launched her own business specializing in gluten-free baked goods. She started baking and experimenting with recipes after her husband was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which is gluten intolerance, and since she loves eating cookies it seemed like the perfect career path. When she’s not baking, blogging, or chasing after her two adorable young boys, she’s training for some run or triathlon (with long periods of rest in between). Her personal blog is Yvonne in LA.

By far, her biggest challenge and greatest joy is motherhood. Jill and her husband are the proud parents of two elementary school aged daughters. Jill admits that she is NOT A PERFECT PARENT and fears her daughter's teenage years. Her girls can be heard running around the house screaming, "Mommy is blogging again!" and she needs to bribe from time to time them with treats. Is she allowed to admit that? On the bright side, Jill really digs living in Silicon Valley and tries her best to blend in, praying that no one will hear her "New Jersey accent". Unless, of course, she is royally upset.

Jill handles PR, Marketing, Business Development and outreach for this collaborative community.

PARTNER, SILICON VALLEY MOMS GROUP:Tekla S. Nee, a cofounder of the Silicon Valley Moms Group, serves as editor-in-chief and CFO for the network of blogs. She has been writing about parenting for more than 25 years for magazines like Parenting,BabyTalk,Working Woman, Special Reports: Family, and Better Health and Living. She blogged for five years before there was such a word, writing a weekly column about about her life with three kids for the Palo Alto Daily News. She's published three books, The Mommy Rescue Guide First Year; The Mommy Zone: Tales from the Trenches of Parenthood; and The Everything Baby's First Year Book (also published in Russian and Chinese). And that's just in her spare time, during the day, she masquerades as a mild-mannered technology journalist working for a major metropolitan magazine.

PARTNER - SILICON VALLEY MOMS GROUP & CHIEF TECHNOLOGY MOM:Beth Blechermanis a techie turned blogger mom who is in charge of blogging technology and development for the Silicon Valley Moms Group network. She also works on the outreach/development to obtain new bloggers and organizing events for the network (including proudly reaching out to Los Angeles Moms!).

Beth started her career in application development, then system auditing and her last role was Senior Manager, Computer Process Integrity, for Deloitte. Beth's personal blog is on tips, tricks, and discussions about parents use of technology for their families (Techmamas). When not blogging, she can be found on Twitter, Facebook and tooling around other new online social networking sites...

PARTNER - SILICON VALLEY MOMS GROUP: Linsey Krolik joined
the management team of Silicon Valley Moms Group as a Partner in
October 2009, after serving as the company's lawyer, book club editor,
and a contributing writer for Silicon Valley Moms Blog since July 2007.
Linsey has been a technology, media, and
business lawyer and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley for the past ten
years. Before operating her solo law practice, which she started
shortly after the birth of her twins in 2004,
Linsey was Corporate Counsel for ARM, Inc., a United Kingdom-based
intellectual
property company and worked for a variety of tech companies in the
Silicon Valley, including Palm, Inc, OmniSky Corporation, and 3Com
Corporation. Linsey holds a combination JD/MBA degree from Santa Clara
University School of Law with a concentration in High Technology Law
and in Marketing and has been a member of the California State Bar
Association since
2002. She is the co-author of the book "Virtual Incorporation: A Lawyer's Guide to Forming Virtual Corporations,"
which was published by the American Bar Association in 2009. She is a
speaker and teacher, having spoken at BlogHer'08 and taught at Solo Practice University and Outside the Cube.
Linsey is very active in her community, sitting on the board of several
local organizations as President and in other Board of Director roles.
She is a twin mom (plus one more makes
three kids aged 6 and under), a twin herself, and a cancer survivor. In
addition to writing at Silicon Valley Moms Blog, she writes
at her personal blog, Me Too You, and at her twins club's blog Mad About Multiples. Linsey handles business development, advertising and legal issues for SV Moms Group.

Amanda Rudolph Schwartz is a native valley girl who still uses way too many “likes” when she speaks. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Amanda, of course, grew up engaging in celebrity dish, watercooler TV talk and Monday morning movie quarterbacking. Her propensity for all things pop culture earned her the unfortunate nickname “Hollywood” in college. Speaking of which…Amanda has lived elsewhere. She attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (Go Blue!) and survived six years in San Francisco where her one and only celebrity sighting came when former “Bachelor,” Andrew Firestone, signed bottles of wine in the frozen food section of the Marina Safeway.

Now back in SoCal, Amanda resides in the suburb of Calabasas where she literally has to “Keep up With the Kardashians” who have smeared the good name of the town. A writer since her mind could wander, Amanda spent her twenties working in journalism and television. She has written for TV via the Disney Channel, MTV and the WB. She has also written for several publications including Los Angeles Magazine, InStyle, The New York Daily News, Variety and almost every teeny-bopper magazine in existence (someday she might even release her early Katie Holmes audio recordings!). She also served as an editor on the launch team of E! Online and as their first TV columnist. A few years back, she sold a screenplay to Britney Spears which hasn’t yet materialized into a film but has given life to some damn good stories. A bit more grown up now, Amanda is a wife and mom (Gabriel, 5; Zoey, 2) who sadly watches CNN and Fox News over the CW and counts Chris Cuomo and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach as her current heartthrobs (Dawson who?). She also blogs at her very own www.adviceyoudidnotaskfor.blogspot.com.

Amy Anderson is a first time, single-mother to a toddler daughter, who she's pretty sure is a genius. Amy is not biased at all. Born in South Korea then adopted and raised by nice Swedish people in suburban Minnesota, Amy decided to become a comedian. After wasting several thousands of dollars of her parents' money on a degree in classical music, Amy relocated to Los Angeles in 2001 to pursue comedy and acting and so far, so good. No one has starved to death... yet.

In addition to being a mom to her superfun girl and comedy and acting, Amy loves snowboarding, hiking, rollercoasters, her chihuahua, baking and eating what she bakes. She has never refused a cupcake and isn't about to start any time soon. As an Asian American, Amy knows that low-carb diets are a SHAM. You can follow Amy's personal blog at http://FunnyYellowMom.Blogpost.com and see her stand up and Academy Award caliber acting on her several national television appearances or online at her personal website (www.AmyAnderson.net), MySpace and Facebook profiles.

Amy Swift is the founder of SMARTY, a Los Angeles and Orange County based community and resource for entrepreneurial and freelancing women. SMARTY delivers events and workshops dedicated to launching or growing A. An idea that could be a business or B. An existing business who's owner needs continued education and support toward growth and expansion. Amy was the founding editor in chief of Ladies Who Launch, co-wrote the Incubator program and co-author of Ladies Who Launch: Creativity and Entrepreneurship as a Lifestyle (St. Martin's 2006.)

.

Ana Lilian Flores is truly a child of two worlds. Born in Houston to parents from El Salvador; grew up in El Salvador until she headed back to the U.S. to attend the University of Florida and receive a Bachelor in Telecommunications-Production. Since then she has worked as television and entertainment producer both in the U.S. and in Mexico.

She and her husband moved to Los Angeles four years ago when the TV industry came calling back. They thought they had escaped it all when they moved to Playa del Carmen in México to act as irresponsible beach bums, but the offer was too tempting to pass up. Two years ago they joyously welcomed their daughter Camila into their bilingual and bicultural family. These days, Ana Lilian is working freelance gigs whenever they come around, and discovering her unselfish side by dedicating precious available time to her labor-of-love blog for parents raising bilingual and bicultural children: SpanglishBaby .

April McCaffery was born behind the Orange curtain in Huntington Beach, CA. Since then, her journeys have taken her to Santa Cruz, Los Angeles where she attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a vocal music major, living and working on a cruise ship, Denver, San Jose, Pittsburgh, Rochester, NY, East L.A., and now Burbank. She is a single, working mother of two daughters.April is the LA Single Parenting Examiner, writes her personal blog, It's All About Balance, and works as a paralegal.

Bernadette Balagtas Batts was raised in the Philippines. Her parents struggled to bring her and her three sisters to America in hopes of providing a better life. She attended nursing school but realized her passion was in entertainment. So, like any normal college student, she quit without telling her parents. They eventually figured it out when they saw Bernadette in a national MCI commercial during The Price is Right. She promised them that if she wasn't going to BE a nurse she would at least PLAY one on TV.

In addition to acting, Bernadette is also a national touring stand-up comedian. She broke her golden rule of "never get involved with a comedian" by marrying one. She and her husband, Michael Batts, are proud parents to their adorable baby, Isabella, who is already stealing the spotlight.

Bernadette LOVES watching the cooking channel, grocery shopping and indulging on an occasional donut. She basically enjoys anything involving food. Bernadette also has her own personal blogging site at
bern-baby-bern and you can check out her show listings at
bernadettelive.com and her profile on Facebook.

Ciaran is a designer/writer living in the LA area, but a piece of her heart remains back east in NYC. Probably sipping an Americano on the lower east side. She is the loving/ranting mom to 4 wonderful/rotten kids. Some of which like to ask her random questions about stuff like sex while she is driving on the freeway, so you may not want to follow too close. Ciaran is a clothing designer, an avid shopper, a self professed "stuffanista" and a constant blogger. She writes product reviews for Mommies with Style, co-owns and edits the family-on-the-go site Car and Caboodle and is looking forward to doling out prescriptions for retail therapy at Popshopology, her latest venture.

While her life may resemble an over the top reality show at times, the cameras are all in the kid's heads and the laugh track is real, never pre-recorded. Keep up with Ciaran's daily adventures on Twitter by following "Momfluential".

over the course of the past year, Cynematic became a political blogger at MOMocrats in addition to her usual writer-filmmaker self. (She's been blogging since 2003 at P i l l o w b o o k, but only went public there in the summer of 2007.) She finds all this hyphenation astonishing, but what's no surprise at all is that she could no more stop writing than stop breathing.

Some days it feels like exactly what she was meant to do, with writing as the link between her past life as a literature professor/grad student and current indie filmmaker endeavors. Other days, her creative life seems like a ridiculously quixotic uphill jumble that happens, sometimes in tweets, in between providing three square meals a day and two nutritious snacks, pickup/dropoff, story time, and bath time as part of raising her brilliant, adorable, fun, and soulful 5-year old.

Welcome to motherhood and multi-tasking, right?

She firmly believes productivity rises when standards fall. Heh. Luckily, she has no domestic gifts whatsoever, is totally un-house proud, and is something of a night owl, or nothing would ever happen.

She just moved to South Pasadena (for the schools! of course!) after seven happy years in Los Feliz--where there's a Prius in every driveway and an organic, free-range chicken in every pot. In South Pas, you can find her at the old-fashioned ice cream shoppe or maybe protesting something on the corner across the street..

.

Donna Schwartz Mills has been a rock journalist, a television production assistant, a freelance sitcom writer, a meeting and convention planner, and a mom who blogs. If she had been born a cat, she’d now be halfway through her nine lives, which she figures is just about right. Donna lives with her husband, middle school daughter, two cats and a goldfish in Southern California, a locale that provides her with plenty of fodder for her main blog,SoCalMom. She also writes reviews at SoCal Stuff, and contributes to the political blog, Momocrats . She is an emeritus member of the Writers Guild of America.

.

Elise Crane Derby’sfamily has lived in and around Santa Monica for almost a hundred years(Which in LA terms is like coming over on the Mayflower). She spent her formative years in Santa Monica public schools. She followed high school up with a few years drifting between Europe, where she learned to speak French and sing with a rock band, and stateside nanny jobs. Finally, she settled back on the Westside where she worked as a preschool teacher for five years, then a personal assistant, for what felt like a hundred years, but turned out to only be three, and in the end became a massage therapist.

Elise is happily married (most days) to another Santa Monica local she calls Viejo for blog purposes and they have a four year old daughter who they usually refer to as Monkey both in real life and on the blog. They all live in a little house on the Westside with their giant dog George, who Monkey will tell you is a Saint Bernard mix. Elise also invites you to visit her blog Elise’s Ramblings.

Elizabeth Aquino is a writer and mother living in Los Angeles with her three children. Her oldest child, a daughter, has a severe seizure disorder and developmental disabilities. Sophie's life has given Elizabeth's an added purpose as she is a fierce advocate for children with special needs. She is currently on the board of the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Los Angeles and works part time for the National Initiative to Improve Children's Healthcare Quality. She is also on the editorial board of a parent journal at epilepsy.com. Elizabeth's sons also keep her busy with what appears to be an insatiable desire to play every sport imaginable. Her work has been published in several literary journals, the anthologies A Cup of Comfort for Parents of Special Needs Children and My Baby Rides the Short Bus, as well as The Los Angeles Times and Spirituality and Health Magazine. Elizabeth posts regularly at her blog, a moon, worn as if it had been a shell and is currently working on a memoir about raising a child with a severe disability.

.

Elizabeth Peterson grew up in Massachusetts dreaming about living in a warm climate. She toured the US with a rock band, shooting their documentary and writing an article about their obsessed fans. At the end of the tour she found herself on The Sunset Strip and knew she was home. Having worked in Hollywood both in front of and behind the camera, Elizabeth has slowed down a tiny bit to raise her back-to-back-19-months-apart babies. She has perfected her quick draw on the “mute” button while on conference calls with a baby in her lap. Married to a Los Angeles native Surfer Guy and living at the beach, she works hard at being laid back, with limited success.

Elizabeth has lived all over the world and speaks four languages. She loves a good happy hour, mint chocolate chip ice cream and personal finance. Her therapist thinks she secretly uses blogging as a way to rebel against her father who believes you should be in the newspaper three times in your life: upon birth, marriage and death. You can read her personal blog over at Traded My BMW for a Minivan. She thanks you for taking the time.

.

Erinis a 4th generation Angeleno who alternately loves her city and is confused by it (a public rail line that both relieves traffic AND kills people occasionally? beautiful faces AND Botox Betties?). Her father worked for the government and she moved. A lot. To far-off lands like Bermuda. Italy. Alabama. When she came to her senses, she moved back to LA and has never looked back. Except for the occasional sojourn to Europe or Palm Springs, whichever can be afforded when wanderlust strikes.

While living the dream as a junior ad exec in Hollywood, Erin became deeply besotted by her husband, who lured her to the foreign streets of his hometown in the San Fernando Valley. There, she plays Suburban Housewife to their three impossibly adorable girls under the age of 9, who are their mama's greatest joy and the reason she drinks on school nights.

No longer dabbling in the world of freelance marketing, PR or advertising, Erin has sometimes been known to bake a mean pumpkin pie and hover (or is it called "volunteering"?) at her kids' schools (and she writes about it for the education blog of the LA Times www.latimes.com/thehomeroom). She spends Wednesday nights in a tiny room off the sanctuary of a church with other writers who want to exercise their craft and escape their families for two quiet hours. Hobbies include yoga, hours-long visits to Tar-zhay, Boggle, Justin Timberlake and spontaneous champagne-induced handstands.

Eunice C. was born in Korea, grew up in Chicago, worked in New York, and is now raising two toddler boys in Southern California. Formerly an investment banker and corporate attorney, she considers the hardships of those jobs nothing compared to those faced as a full time SAHM. She dreams about the day she can sleep eight hours straight without anyone waking her up.

Eunice likes going on Strand walks and frequenting Korean taco trucks and farmers markets, some of her favorite things about LA. She writes about the madness surrounding her at her personal blog, Random Walk Down Mommy Street.

.

Florinda Pendley Vasquez has been a mom and wife twice, for a total of more than half her life. Round One started in Florida, while she and her first husband were still college students, and had their only child at the age of 20. They both finished college, she and their son accompanied her husband to graduate school, and they later settled in Memphis, Tennessee. Obviously, Florinda is no longer in Memphis, or she would not be qualified to blog here; after her first marriage ended in 2002, and with her son about to leave for college himself, she followed the example of countless others and headed to Southern California for a fresh start. After a few years of single life and long-distance parenting, she met her future second husband via an online dating site. Round Two officially commenced in October 2006, when they married and she became stepmother to his teen daughter and grade-school-age son.

Florinda's accounting career (yes, really, for over twenty years now) has currently brought her to the edge of Hollywood, where she works for a nonprofit social-services agency - it has its moments, but it's not quite as interesting as when she literally worked in a zoo. While she works with numbers, she's addicted to words. She's a voracious reader, and her love of books got her into blogging, but her personal blog, The 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness, has spun off in many directions from its original bookish roots. She lives the suburban commuter life in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, with Husband #2, the kids (none of whom are there full-time) and their dog Gypsy (who is always there, usually on the bed).

.

Having a child later in life and being a single mom was what put Jeannine on a new path. She craved a career where she could continue using her creative talents and expertise and that would have flexibility to be with her son and spend more time with him as he grew. Together with Tricia Leigh Fisher, The Treehouse Social Club was built and filled a void in children’s play places by focusing on the mom’s (and dads) as well as the children’s needs. Treehouse Social Club in Los Angeles, CA, is a full-time play center, café and community for moms and kids. The Treehouse celebrated its Grand Opening on Mother’s Day, May 13, 2007 and continues to thrive and grow.

Prior to the launch of The Treehouse, Jeannine was employed as an award winning creative director with a background in graphic design for over 20 years in both New York and Los Angeles, working for industry leaders such as TWBA/Chiat Day; Schematic; HBO; Lifetime Television and Grey Entertainment.

Social events and creative endeavors were all a major part of Jeannine’s life when she was employed in the corporate world and she was also the expert within her group of family and friends. These talents are now utilized full-time at The Treehouse Social Club. She is using her creative talents, marketing expertise, entertainment industry knowledge and mommy experience and enjoying it all as is her son Cole.

6 year old Cole’s favorite things to do at The Treehouse are to go climb into the actual treehouse, play the Wii game and test as many toys as possible. He is Jeannine’s greatest inspiration personally and professionally.

.

Jennifer blogs as TheSmartMama but doesn't ever feel smart. Mostly she feels like she is always running late (which is why she lives in Los Angeles because you can always blame the traffic), usually exhausted, often cranky and perpetually losing her keys. Or her checkbook. Or one small child's shoe (never two shoes). She is the mom of 2 and caretaker to a very snooty cat and a very fat guinea pig. And assorted bugs collected by her 5 year old boy. She works outside the home as a partner in a law firm specializing in environmental law, primarily consumer product labeling. She was formerly an environmental engineer and met her husband just about 20 years ago in engineering school. Her husband, whom she truly loves dearly, has a much more interesting job - he is a human crash test dummy.

Jennifer runs an eco-consulting business focusing on simple steps to reduce and eliminate toxic chemicals around the home and going green. She routinely lectures on the subject. She is the author of the forthcoming The Smart Mama's Green Guide: Simple Steps to Non Toxic Babies from Hachette Book Group USA. She runs the website TheSmartMama. She blogs at 5 Minutes for Going Green and SmugDadCrankyMom.

..

Jessica B. is the creator/producer of a web series called "BERNTHIS.COM" about a neurotic woman's journey through her weekly visits to her therapist's office, which was noted in the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Larchmont Chronicle for her ability to use product placement to offset her production costs. Megan Smith, a contributing editor at http://blogher.com reviewed the series saying, " Unlike some of the "rough around the edges" video blogs out there, this one is well written, beautifully produced and most of the clips are quite funny. Definitely worth checking out."

Jessica is also one of the founders of http:www.themouthyhousewives.com, a funny, quirky, somewhat twisted advice site written by herself and four other humor bloggers who use their non-traditional takes on housework, relationships and parenting to give hilarious and helpful answers to life’s questions.

Jessica has been a commercial actress for many years. She has been the spokesperson for companies such as Wendy's, Amana and ACS Wireless. With over three dozen commercials under her belt, there's not a product in the world she doesn't "really" believe in.

Jessica is a former stand-up comedienne and has appeared on networks such as Comedy Central, FOX, NBC, MTV and VH-1. Her essay, "Flying the Unfriendly Skies" was published in a book entitled, "The Story Salon, Big Book of Stories", (iuniverse.,publisher) and was also the winner of the "letter to my body" contest, which sponsored by Contessa.com.

Kimberley
Clayton Blaine, MA, MFT is an author, national parenting expert and a
licensed Family and Child Therapist who specializes in working with
children ages newborn to six years old. Kimberley is the executive
producer of the web show titled, www.TheGoToMom.TV. Kimberley is
also the executive producer of Silicon Valley Moms Group's original
series A Byte Out Of
Life sponsored by Yahoo! -- She teaches Early Childhood Brain
Development and Positive Discipline Strategies at UCLA Extension
Education Department. Currently, Kimberley is the director of a Los
Angeles Mental Health Campaign for Young Children funded by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. Read her latest book, The
Internet Mommy: Inspiring Interviews and Stories from Mothers who Work
and Play Online -- www.TheInternetM

Kim Tracy Prince
relocated to Los Angeles from her hometown in Connecticut with no idea
what to do when she grew up. After 12 years of writing and producing
for television, eight years of marriage, and five years of raising
little boys, she still doesn't know. Kim had given up on Los Angeles
because of the traffic, but having kids gave her permission to play
again. She enjoys naptime, blogging, reading, travel, and a nice
cocktail, but her most fulfilling extra-curricular activity is working
with Help a Mother Out to assist needy families
in getting clean diapers for their babies. Read more of everything at House of
Prince, tips and travel stories on Uptake Family
Vacations, real estate adventures at Diary of a Moving Mom, and
stream-of-conscious blah blah on Twitter.

Laura Clark arrived in Los Angeles in 2002 via New York, Hamburg, Amherst and her native Oklahoma. She has spent most of her career in journalism, having worked on the editorial staff of such publications as George magazine, Woman's Day, the New York Times Syndicate and Variety.

Being a media junkie, however, isn't half as entertaining as playing handler for her 2-year-old daughter. Laura chronicles her Los Angeles adventures with husband and toddler in tow on her blog L.A. Story. It's there where she muses, gushes and sometimes even vents as they explore hot spots around the city that are both kid-friendly and reasonably priced. OK, sometimes they splurge. After all, it is L.A.

Laura Gerson is mom to one delightful toddler (and two rambunctious pugs.) She spends her days creating outings and events for her daughter and finding ways to keep all three "kids" from creating more messes than the ones she just cleaned up. The job of full-time mom was an eye-opening and exhausting transition for this former marketing executive who thought producing 16 events a year, negotiating major sponsorship deals, brokering new business opportunities, launching a magazine, managing 100+ artists at one time or working a 60 hour week was tough work. Laura notes that while all of her career accomplishments have been wonderful experiences, motherhood has by far been the most challenging and most rewarding.

Laura is an Army brat, the eldest of three, who's parents schlepped her all over the world. The most memorable experiences being a few years in pre-Kohmeini Tehran and high-school years skiing and drinking beer (there's no age limit) in Germany.She has a degree in Art History from the University of Georgia and began her career working in art galleries in Atlanta. Somehow talked her way into a job in PR, became an events specialist, ended-up in marketing and the rest, as they say... Her latest marketing endeavor is her blog http://bestmomsites.blogspot.com/ where she "finds the best sites and online sales for moms." Laura is married to a technology entrepreneur and creative genius (she is not biased in this) who keeps her on her toes and is a delight to watch interact with their baby girl. Laura and family are currently residing in Los Angeles, so close to the ocean "we can see the sea mist roll over our rooftop".

.

Lexi has a busy life with one and a half year old triplets & and an almost teenage stepson. Everyone has told her it doesn’t get easier, it just gets different. The good news is, everyone sleeps well. After a lengthy hotel management career and ten years coaching figure skating, she can now be found with a baby on one knee while she rediscovers daily her ability to type with one hand and desperately wishes for ear plugs on days that end in "Y". Squeezing in time to write and stay involved in skating between bottles, diapers and homework is a challenge. Outnumbered by children, it's all about zone defense. The baby weight is coming off slowly but surely as she finds her way back to balance on 1/8 of an inch of steel under each foot. That is, when there aren't three sticky little people there.

.

Liz D . is a married mother of two who’s lived in Chicago, New York and Guangzhou, China, but has called the paparazzi capital of the world, Los Angeles, home for the past ten years. Liz can see the Hollywood sign from her backyard, proof that it’s not smoggy in LA all the time, but she’s never seen her two favorite actors, Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom. Despite those fantasies not coming true, the celebrity life is never far away for Liz when she’s with her young sons. However, she hopes to not ever repeat the major freak-out moment where she caught random strangers snapping pictures of her two young boys with camera phones, not to mention the shady folks who lurk in the mall and try to recruit them for supposed Disney casting calls, for a small fee of course.

Liz also gets plenty of requests from her über-Angeleno sons for tattoos, mohawks and guyliner, so she makes sure to balance the wanna-be hipster/rock star tendencies by spending lots of time talking about virtues and gentlemanly behavior. A vegetarian since 1990, Liz is trying to figure out how to cook for kids that don’t mind eating tofu but really just want to be like their dad and scarf down turkey burgers and chicken every chance they get. Liz happily suffers from acute Depeche Mode obsessive compulsive disorder and takes pride in the fact that her sons can tell the difference between a Cure or Depeche Mode record. Because she loves grinding her teeth and supporting public education, for now she’s skipping the private, magnet or charter school debate and is sending her kids to her neighborhood Los Angeles public school. She worked in the field of education for thirteen years, both in the non-profit world and as a teacher in Compton, CA but gave it up for freelance writing and full-time parenting. Currently Liz writes for the sites Anti-Racist Parent and Divine Caroline and blogs about issues as diverse as race relations and pop culture at her personal alter ego, Los Angelista.

Marsha Takeda-Morrisonis a freelance writer who blogs under the name Sweatpantsmom. Before becoming a writer she worked as an art director in the entertainment industry for such companies as NBC, E! Entertainment, HBO and Sony Music. Until three years ago she had never written a thing except for the occasional witty email or that five-page hostile missive to the cable company when her Cinemax was blocked. She fantasizes that they have the letter framed and hanging in the lobby where it might catch the attention of an editor from Vanity Fair someday.
Now you can find her exposing her insides on her personal blog Sweatpantsmom, offering up mostly useless opinions on Views From The Pants and mercilessly skewering celebrities on FameCrawler. She also posts weekly on the travel site UpTake, where she’ll give you the L.A. scoop on where to find the tastiest margaritas or the best place to bump into George Clooney. (Hint: Neither of them are at her house.) She recently interviewed Jessica Alba for Genlux magazine but surprisingly was not invited to be present in the delivery room when the actress gave birth. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two tween daughters and a cat named Milkshake and considers coffee the most important substance in the history of man.

She spent 15+ years in the corporate world, marketing toys, food,
school supplies and a host of other products to children and their
parents. And then she became one – a parent that is.

And then after years and years of marketing to children, she
completed degree work in child development; qualified as a teacher;
worked in her son’s classroom; took a variety of parenting workshops and
went green (change of opinion - sort of). Not quite ready to
give up on plastic completely or ditch her TV, she none-the-less found
herself attracted to Waldorf education, attachment parenting and
excessive recycling. Now she spends her days struggling against
over-scheduling her child; eschewing then purchasing toys based on
commercial characters; cooking organic unless it’s too expensive and
driving her gas-guzzling SUV. Because who would buy it from her these
days?

A native Seattle-ite, Melissa has always been intrigued by other cultures, travel, and adventure. One month after graduating from high school, she jumped a plane for a four-year tour overseas. Upon return, she met her husband, fell in love, bought two tickets to Europe, and the day before leaving, found out they were pregnant. It has been one adventure after another ever since.

Melissa hurriedly finished college so she could enjoy staying home with her two children. Now, with both kids in school full time, her career as personal chef has taken off, as well as her passion for food blogging and gardening . She currently resides on the west side of LA, close enough to the beach to feel the ocean breeze.

The responsibilities of parenthood bind her feet to the ground for now but that doesn't stop her from taking off out of town every chance she gets.

Morgan was a
freelance writer living carefree in Los Angeles when she discovered that
she was "in the family way." What started as a new years resolution to
write daily, quickly became a journal of her pregnancy (and the panic
it induced) and her very first blog was born (which would prove a lot
less painful than when she gave birth to a real human baby not nine
months later.)

Some things that some people have found interesting
in the past?

She's a native Los Angeleno (the few, the
proud.)

She's married to her high school sweetheart. (And they both grew up
in LA. Weird, right?)

She matriculated from NYU, after being one of the only Jewish kids
at a private catholic high school in The Valley.

Since returning to Los Angeles post-college, she's worked as a
television P.A., a director's assistant, a development executive, and
writing commercials, before finally taking her place on the unemployment
line as a fully minted screenwriter.

Morgan lives, works, and loves in the San Fernando Valley, blogs daily
about art and design at Cargoh Culture, and overshares her personal life
(complete with curse words) on a semi-regular basis at The818.com.

Nina Moon is a
mother and writer living in a quiet suburb of Ventura County. Until
recently, she lived in West Los Angeles and reveled in quaint, non-chain
coffee shops, hodge-podge ethnic influenced taco trucks and not being
the only minority in the room. But since she now has cotton-tailed
bunnies and actual non-crow varieties of birds frolicking around in her
backyard, not to mention parks, hiking trails and stellar schools all
within walking distance, she is not finding it difficult to make peace
with suburban life. Nina is a founding editor of Kimchi Mamas, a blog for
mothers of Korean American children, a contributing editor to BlogHer's BeautyHacks, a
fashion and beauty blog and a former staff writer for KoreAm Journal. She blogs about
mothering, design, fashion, faith and politics at her personal blog Sweet Disarray.

.

Sarah Auerswald came to Los Angeles in 1990 to make her fortune in the film industry. She made a great living, but it didn’t quite turn out the way she thought it would. Instead of accepting an Academy Award and joining the DGA, she met the man of her dreams, bought a house and settled down to become a mom. She has 2 boys, ages 9 and 5, and her job is parenting them. She is the once and future PTA President at their school because that’s the kind of mom she is. Although Sarah was an English major in college, she delights in using run-on sentences and made-up words – and she also blogs at SarahAuerswald.com and MarVistaMom.com.

.

Sarah is a freelance
writer, comedian, single mother of three (that includes
twins...EEP!), and founder of "Mommy Lite" (www.MommyLiteOnline.com) a parenting humor site.

Her work has been featured on More.com, Shine.com,
DivineCaroline.com and TheWellMom.com. She is also a regular
contributor to ParentsAsk.com, TruuConfessions.com, and
Autisable.com (a website for families dealing with Autism - her
oldest was diagnosed with Asperger's when she was three).

She
has performed stand-up at The Hollywood Improv, The Comedy Store, and
Stand-Up New York, and has appeared as a guest on ABC News Now's
"Moms Get Real" with Ju Ju Chang, NPR's "Tell Me More" with
Michel Martin, and NPR's Podcast "What Would Rob Do?"

Sarah
is the creator and co-author of The Bridesmaid's Guerrilla Handbook
(a Border's Top 50 Best-Selling Trade Paperback), and her new
non-fiction humor book, "Got Milf?" will be published by Berkley in Spring 2011.

Sibylla Nash has written for most of her life. She graduated from USC with a degree in journalism and her articles have appeared in a variety of magazines and newspapers including Vibe, Essence, The Chicago Tribune and many others.

She is also the author Baby Modeling & Beyond: From the Stroller to the Red Carpet, a guide for parents considering getting their children into modeling and acting. Her daughter began modeling at four months old and has appeared in a number of print ads and commercials including most recently, Orville Redenbacher "tea party" commercial. You can check out her blogs StarbabyLA and Divaluscious.

Teresa Lantos DeGagné has always loved an adventure. She was raised in New York, Connecticut and Florida. Yearning for change, she went back to New York for college, spent her senior year in Ireland and worked in Manhattan after graduation. At 24, she packed all her cares away (and not much else) and moved to San Francisco, having no job and knowing only four people in the area. Five years later, she met her Southern Californian husband at a wedding there. She then began the greatest adventure of her life. After a 20-month long-distance relationship, she left the Golden Gate behind and settled into married life in Hermosa Beach. While she and her husband enjoyed their life as DINKs, they decided to throw caution to the wind, got pregnant and opted to move and raise their family in Simi Valley.

An accountant by trade (let’s face it – nothing’s more adventurous than dealing with cash flow issues), early parenthood challenged her control. As soon as she felt like she had a handle on it, they had a second child and more fun ensued. Now the mother of a third grader and a kindergartener (both boys), she’s got lots of stories to tell and questions to ponder. Tired of writing just lists of things to do, she’s decided to embark on the writing adventure she’s dreamed of since she was young. She believes she has it in her to write more than witty invitations for children’s birthday parties. Knowing she has the loving support of her husband in this and every other Lucy/Ethel project she endeavors, makes it all a little less scary.

.

Yvonne was born and raised in the beautiful desert town of Tucson (it really is a dry heat!), where most of her family still lives. After several years as a newspaper reporter, tech writer, and online editor in the Midwest and the San Francisco Bay Area, Yvonne settled in to life in Los Angeles as a housemom, writer, and baker.

She recently launched her own business specializing in gluten-free baked goods. She started baking and experimenting with recipes after her husband was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which is gluten intolerance, and since she loves eating cookies it seemed like the perfect career path. When she’s not baking, blogging, or chasing after her two adorable young boys, she’s training for some run or triathlon (with long periods of rest in between). Her personal blog is Yvonne in LA.

By far, her biggest challenge and greatest joy is motherhood. Jill and her husband are the proud parents of two elementary school aged daughters. Jill admits that she is NOT A PERFECT PARENT and fears her daughter's teenage years. Her girls can be heard running around the house screaming, "Mommy is blogging again!" and she needs to bribe from time to time them with treats. Is she allowed to admit that? On the bright side, Jill really digs living in Silicon Valley and tries her best to blend in, praying that no one will hear her "New Jersey accent". Unless, of course, she is royally upset.

Jill handles PR, Marketing, Business Development and outreach for this collaborative community.

PARTNER, SILICON VALLEY MOMS GROUP:Tekla S. Nee, a cofounder of the Silicon Valley Moms Group, serves as editor-in-chief and CFO for the network of blogs. She has been writing about parenting for more than 25 years for magazines like Parenting,BabyTalk,Working Woman, Special Reports: Family, and Better Health and Living. She blogged for five years before there was such a word, writing a weekly column about about her life with three kids for the Palo Alto Daily News. She's published three books, The Mommy Rescue Guide First Year; The Mommy Zone: Tales from the Trenches of Parenthood; and The Everything Baby's First Year Book (also published in Russian and Chinese). And that's just in her spare time, during the day, she masquerades as a mild-mannered technology journalist working for a major metropolitan magazine.

PARTNER - SILICON VALLEY MOMS GROUP & CHIEF TECHNOLOGY MOM:Beth Blechermanis a techie turned blogger mom who is in charge of blogging technology and development for the Silicon Valley Moms Group network. She also works on the outreach/development to obtain new bloggers and organizing events for the network (including proudly reaching out to Los Angeles Moms!).

Beth started her career in application development, then system auditing and her last role was Senior Manager, Computer Process Integrity, for Deloitte. Beth's personal blog is on tips, tricks, and discussions about parents use of technology for their families (Techmamas). When not blogging, she can be found on Twitter, Facebook and tooling around other new online social networking sites...

PARTNER - SILICON VALLEY MOMS GROUP: Linsey Krolik joined
the management team of Silicon Valley Moms Group as a Partner in
October 2009, after serving as the company's lawyer, book club editor,
and a contributing writer for Silicon Valley Moms Blog since July 2007.
Linsey has been a technology, media, and
business lawyer and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley for the past ten
years. Before operating her solo law practice, which she started
shortly after the birth of her twins in 2004,
Linsey was Corporate Counsel for ARM, Inc., a United Kingdom-based
intellectual
property company and worked for a variety of tech companies in the
Silicon Valley, including Palm, Inc, OmniSky Corporation, and 3Com
Corporation. Linsey holds a combination JD/MBA degree from Santa Clara
University School of Law with a concentration in High Technology Law
and in Marketing and has been a member of the California State Bar
Association since
2002. She is the co-author of the book "Virtual Incorporation: A Lawyer's Guide to Forming Virtual Corporations,"
which was published by the American Bar Association in 2009. She is a
speaker and teacher, having spoken at BlogHer'08 and taught at Solo Practice University and Outside the Cube.
Linsey is very active in her community, sitting on the board of several
local organizations as President and in other Board of Director roles.
She is a twin mom (plus one more makes
three kids aged 6 and under), a twin herself, and a cancer survivor. In
addition to writing at Silicon Valley Moms Blog, she writes
at her personal blog, Me Too You, and at her twins club's blog Mad About Multiples. Linsey handles business development, advertising and legal issues for SV Moms Group.